AFCON
English Premiership League set to lose 40 players during Afcon
The Africa Cup of Nations begins next month, with about 40 Premier League players set to miss several weeks of the season as they head to Cameroon.
Watford have the most players eligible – six – although two are likely to miss out through injury.
Arsenal, Crystal Palace and Leicester are all set to wave four players off too, while Liverpool will lose three – including Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane.
Chelsea are likely to be without keeper Edouard Mendy and Hakim Ziyech.
They could miss the Fifa Club World Cup and league games against Liverpool, Manchester City and Tottenham, among others.
Leeds, Newcastle, Norwich and Tottenham will not lose anybody.
As things stand, players could go after the games on 26 December, and those who reach the final may not be available again until Saturday, 12 February.
While the Africa Cup of Nations does not start until Sunday, 9 January, Fifa rules say clubs must release their players by Monday morning of the week preceding the week the tournament starts – which is 27 December.
Players can come back to England the day after their teams are knocked out, with the final and third-place play-off on Sunday, 6 February.
However, many clubs are currently negotiating with various national teams to try to delay the date they have to release their players.
The European Club Association (ECA) has expressed its “deep concerns” regarding player welfare before the tournament because of the “worsening public health situation” around Covid and is seeking urgent talks with world governing body Fifa.
No squads have been named yet but these are the players who could be gone.
Watford (6)
Ismaila Sarr (Senegal)*, Peter Etebo*, Emmanuel Dennis, William Troost-Ekong (all Nigeria), Adam Masina, Imran Louza (both Morocco)
*Sarr and Etebo likely to miss out through injury
Arsenal(4)
Thomas Partey (Ghana), Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Gabon), Nicolas Pepe (Ivory Coast), Mohamed Elneny (Egypt)
Crystal Palace (4)
Cheikhou Kouyate (Senegal), Jeffrey Schlupp, Jordan Ayew (both Ghana), Wilfried Zaha (Ivory Coast)
Leicester City (4)
Kelechi Iheanacho, Wilfred Ndidi (both Nigeria), Daniel Amartey (Ghana), Nampalys Mendy (Senegal)*
*Mendy is not in the Foxes’ Premier League squad
Aston Villa (3)
Bertrand Traore (Burkina Faso), Trezeguet (Egypt), Marvelous Nakamba (Zimbabwe)
Brentford (3)
Frank Onyeka (Nigeria), Tariqe Fosu (Ghana), Julian Jeanvier (Guinea)
Liverpool (3)
Naby Keita (Guinea), Mohamed Salah (Egypt), Sadio Mane (Senegal)
Chelsea (2)
Edouard Mendy (Senegal), Hakim Ziyech (Morocco)
Everton (2)
Alex Iwobi (Nigeria), Jean-Philippe Gbamin (Ivory Coast)
Manchester United (2)
Eric Bailly, Amad Diallo (both Ivory Coast)
Southampton (2)
Moussa Djenepo (Mali), Mohammed Salisu (Ghana)*
*Salisu is uncapped
Wolverhampton Wanderers (2)
Willy Boly (Ivory Coast)*, Romain Saiss (Morocco)
*Boly has not played in the Premier League because of injury this season but is expected to go to Afcon
Brighton & Hove Albion (1)
Yves Bissouma (Mali)
Burnley (1)
Maxwel Cornet (Ivory Coast)
Manchester City (1)
Riyad Mahrez (Algeria)
West Ham United (1)
Said Benrahma (Algeria)
Leeds United (0)
Newcastle United (0)
Norwich City (0)
Tottenham Hotspur (0)
What are some of the affected key games in this time?
- FA Cup third and fourth-round ties
- Chelsea’s Fifa Club World Cup matches
- 28 December: Leicester v Liverpool
- 1 January: Arsenal v Manchester City
- 2 January: Chelsea v Liverpool
- 14 January: Brighton v Crystal Palace
- 15 January: Manchester City v Chelsea
- 16 January: Tottenham v Arsenal
- 23 January: Chelsea v Tottenham
The Libyan Football Federation (LFF) has sacked its Serbian coach, Milutin Sredojević who is popularly known as Micho.
This is coming ahead of Libya’s back-to-back Africa Cup of Nations clashes with Nigeria next month.
Paradoxically, Sports Village Square gathered that the coach’s contract was only recently renewed for six months before the axe fell on the Serbian.
His sack was precipitated by the results obtained in their teo matches of the AFCON qualifiers.
Libya drew 1-1 with Rwanda at home and lost 2-1 away to Benin Republic despite beig a goal up at half time.
The Libyan side, Mediterranean Knights are due to play against the Nigeria Super Eagles in Uyo on 6 October while the return leg holds on 14 October at the 11 July Stadium in Tripoli.
According to information Sports Village Square gathered from Tripoli, the Mediterranean Knights’ coach, Micho led the Libyan national team to win nine matches since taking over in October of last year, he failed to build a strong team due to his poor choices.
He also took a risk with the footballers chosen in the AFCON qualifiers, and the result was shocking to the Libyan sports audience.
According to sources close to the Libyan Football Federation, there is a strong tendency to sign a national coach to lead the Libyan team during the remaining qualifiers for the African Cup of Nations.
CAF President Patrice Motsepe has lashed out at Ghana and some other African countries whose home grounds were recently banned from hosting CAF matches owing to inadequate facilities. He made the remarks in Nairobi, Kenya during a press conference,
After the MatchDay 2 of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers, CAF ruled Ghana’s Baba Yara Stadium in Kumasi as being inadequate to host international matches. Being the only approved ground in the country, Ghana will now look towards either Cote d’Ivoire or Togo for their remaining home matches of the Afcon qualifiers.
Other African countries without approved home grounds are: Djibouti, Chad, Niger, Eritrea, Gabon, Sudan, Zimbabwe, Madagascar, São Tomé and Burundi.
Motsepe voiced his frustration over the recurring issue of nations being unable to host home games.
“Nothing frustrates me more than a national team or club side having to play home matches outside,” he stated.
He stressed the significance of playing in front of home fans, adding, “You can’t grow football if the national teams or club sides aren’t playing in front of their home fans.”
Motsepe reiterated CAF’s commitment to working with countries to ensure they have at least one suitable stadium to host international fixtures.
“Our conversations in every country are to make sure there is at least one stadium capable of hosting a CAF category C game,” he emphasized.
The on-going CAF AFCON Cote d’Ivoire 2023 Coaches Symposium in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire has brought together, the last three coaches that handled the Nigeria national football team.
Gernot Rohr, Jose Peseiro and Austin Eguavoen are part of the the elite coaches currently gathered in Abidjan.
Gernot Rohr whose tenure of 5 years and 55 matches is the longest ever by any coach in Nigeria, is currently handling Nigeria’s Africa Cupof Nations and World Cup qualifying rivals, Benin Republic. He was succeeded in the interim by Austin Eguavoen who is currently having another interim stint.
Peseiro left his position after the Africa Cup of Nations
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